A tour of the Harry Winston Manufactory in Geneva, Switzerland

After a sleepy week of hot springs, skiing, sledding, and overindulgence in Leukerbad, K. and I returned to Chemin du Tourbillon in Plan-les-Ouates (Plan-les-watches?) for the second time in two weeks. After some initial confusion at the reception, perhaps due to the holiday, we were welcomed by Luis Andre (who no longer works at HW) and Federica Vono (Communication assistant). Only part of the staff was working but we had a thorough tour nonetheless.

The still Christmas-themed reception area.

To the left we can see the rather small Alpina/Frederique Constant building; the Piaget building is the reddish building with the white columns.

We started off in the design department, where there were stacks of watch catalogues and magazines amongst the computers running Photoshop CS5 and AutoCAD and large Wacom tablets. There were marvelous hand sketched drawings of previous and new designs, including novelties in preparation for Basel 2012 (I didn’t get any photos though).

After the design department on the top floor, we proceeded downstairs to the machine shop where maintenance was busy repairing CNC machines used to manufacture cases out of gold, platinum, and Zalium. Luis confirmed that Harry Winston has no plans to release any watches in titanium or steel since Zalium was better than both for sporty pieces.

Machines weren’t having a good day…

Cases were individually polished by hand, as expected and then cleaned in ultrasonic baths. So far it seemed like any other manufactory, but that would soon change.

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Hand Polishing and preparation of the gold case for setting.

Harry Winston, being famous for it’s exceptional jewelry, has excellent expertise in gem setting. Each watch being set has a diagram of the setting drawn, with each color representing a different cut/size of diamond. 

Setting diagram for “Talk To Me”

Diagram of setting for the “Avenue C”

Setting was, of course, done by hand under a microscope (Leica M60) by an master gem-setter.

Our gem setter was wearing a Project Z in Zalium (Z6?)

Fortunately, there was a television that mirrored the microscope for laypeople such as myself to try and understand. The setting is cut out, the diamond is placed in the slot, and the black tool Luis is pointing tool presses the edge of the case over the side of the diamond to keep it in place. The diamond quality used in the watches are of the same quality as used in Harry Winston Jewelry. I wasn’t told exactly what this quality was but believe it would be VVS F-G and higher.

The setter has the expertise to set any type of case and bracelet.

Setting a round case.

Setting the bracelet of a women’s piece (Avenue C in rose gold)

Setting a rectangular case (Avenue C in yellow gold)

Upstairs to the assembly and quality control departments.

Workbench with presorted kits.

“David” (not sure if that’s our watchmaker’s name, but that’s what it said on the plate) assembling the automatic winding mechanism.

Movement as supplied by Frédéric Piguet

Bottle of Harry Winston water, can be seen throughout the building (should have asked for one as a souvenir).

The focus of Harry Winston is on establishing partnerships with skilled (but not necessarily well known at the time) independent watchmakers, of whom includes F. P. Journe, Peter Speake-Marin, and Urwerk. Since Harry Winston is not an in-house movement manufacturer, its movements are designed by independent watchmakers and manufactured by Frédéric Piguet (Swatch Group). Luis seemed to have no problem admitting that they were not, at this time, a manufacturer, but that they do have to make improvements to certain movements received in order to have the desired power reserve. To those who say, “all Harry Winston does is hire other people to do their work”, Luis says, “You try doing it!” It would seem that cooperating with independent watchmakers could, at times, be a nightmare, especially with the deadlines of the real world. With regards to women’s watches, the emphasis is very much on the jewelry aspect; therefore women’s watches are mostly quartz.

Moving onto the casing department just across the hall from assembly.

OceanSport Automatics in Zalium waiting to be cased, along with their rate results

Casing up

Loctite machine, not sure what it’s for

After casing, watches are tested on a rotary tester (Duotest) before being sent for final inspection and water resistant testing.

Duotest rotary testing machine

Final inspection

Cased up, same watch (Talk To Me, Harry Winston, 5^th dial) we saw the diagram of earlier.

Waterproof testing (most are water resistant to 3 atm)

After the visit we went upstairs to the manufactory’s café, overlooking their neighbor Vacheron Constantin (who appeared to still be on vacation despite the then impending SIHH 2012). I had a frank conversation with Luis, who is the Managing director for Wholesale for Europe and Africa, about the direction of Harry Winston over a cup of cappuccino for myself and Ovomaltine for K.. I do not have a recording of the conversation and will try to paraphrase it the best I can. Please note that this is NOT an official interview and that I may have misstated things that Luis said, therefore this does not reflect the official position of Harry Winston.

Luis looking through the microscope at the gem-setting department, wearing his Premier Perpetual Calendar in White Gold.

Luis “allowed” me to take a photo of the neighbor from their terrace.

Ed: We mentioned that emerging markets, especially China, has largely purchased from traditional manufacturers such as Omega, Rolex, Vacheron, and Patek while steering clear of novelties. Since I would consider most of what HW does to be a novelty, what are your views on these markets.

Luis: There will a point when the Asian market will purchase more novelties, I see it as where our markets need to expand. Asia and the Middle East, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia…
Asia has more home renters than Europe, where people are willing to spend 2, 5, 10 thousand francs on a watch but not at the price range we’re in. People in Asia can save, and there is definitely demand for our watches there. When Europeans have disposable income, they travel rather than consume. Geneva is an exception, you see those advertisements in the airport that all the brands are fighting over, they’re for people like you. Visitors! Not for the people who live here.

Ed: So you think novelties will do well in emerging markets?

Luis: People are always looking for something new and unique. What we are doing is educating the consumers in Asia so that they understand how our works are unique. We can really deliver something unique. There aren’t many brands doing what we are right now.

Ed: Urwerk and the like?

Luis: De Bethune is doing something a little different, but not quite like us. As I said, as people start to own the more classical pieces, they will want something new, and we’re here for that.

Ed: Are there plans to fully integrate as a manufacturer?

Luis: There are not plans currently. We may begin to move some manufacturing in-house but we are still really focused on cooperation. Since we started in the 90’s, we have been seeking out exceptional but not so well known watchmakers and making something unique with them. Many of them have become famous because of working with us! François Paul Journe, we’ve all heard of Journe, but when we did the Opus 1 with him, he wasn’t that well known.

Ed: Are you concerned about views by purists about Harry Winston not being a “true manufacturer.”

Luis: Some of the other companies around us are just putting straps on pre-made watches. Many of the cheaper brands are processing huge volumes on something like 300 square meters of floor space. We are focused on what we’re good at, innovation, cooperation, and gem setting. We’re not afraid of saying we don’t make the movements.

Ed: How independent is the manufactory from the corporate in Toronto and New York?

Luis: we’re given quite a bit of freedom in what we do. All the jewelry is made in New York on 5^th Avenue and they sometimes lend expertise about gem setting. But we operate pretty much independently.

Ed: Since Harry Winston is located in Geneva, is there any desire to pursue qualifications such as the Geneva seal, Qualité Flurier, or COSC certification?

Luis: Those are more for marketing; we let our products speak for themselves. The movements come as they do, what can you do.

Ed: The products really do speak for themselves.

It is clear that Harry Winston has a clear sense of direction and identity, with a desire to continuing doing what it does best rather than bandwagon onto trends. Despite the designs being innovative, they’re certainly not trendy. Upon looking at creations 10 years old, I get a feeling that they could have well been made yesterday.

I would like to especially thank Foversta for helping me arrange this visit, without his support this would not have been possible. I also thank Luis Andre and Federica Vono for escorting us through the two-hour tour so soon after the holidays.